Karupin's Ardor
by Albatross
Summary: Ryoma is not big on making friends. He doesn't usually open up to the people he meets. The closest person he has to a friend is his Senpai Momo. But since long before he knew Momo, he's been close with Karupin. A pertinacious triangle has formed.


Version 1.2 – Now Edited! (thanks to xerxyse)

Chapter 1

Ryoma's practice felt different than it usually did. He wondered why. The only thing Ryoma could think of was that Momo-senpai was absent today. Well, Ryuzaki's friend Tomo wasn't there either which was a refreshing change. That aside, the walk back from school just wasn't the same without Momo's company.

The freshman tennis prodigy entered the gate to his property and walked confidently to his house. He never was one to rush unnecessarily, but neither did he dawdle. Ryoma opened the front door, stepped in, and leaned down to drop his tennis bag. Before he had a chance, Karupin ran over from the next room and jumped on top of it, startling Ryoma.

"Woah!"

"Meow"

Ryoma bent down onto his knees and gently placed the bag on the floor, Karupin and all. As he stood back up, Karupin leapt from it and began walking up the stairs, a few steps ahead of Ryoma.

"Don't follow me" he responded. Karupin stopped, looked over his shoulder, and meowed. It seemed like Karupin's meow was communicating a sense of entitlement to walk up the stairs whenever the cat pleased. "Just because you're in front of me doesn't mean you aren't following me." The Echizen family pet didn't seem bothered by this, and continued ahead to Ryoma's room.

Echizen rounded the corner and entered his bedroom. He laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking a bit about Momo. Why hadn't he been in school today? It wasn't really Ryoma's style to call and find out the reason. Still, it did bug him at least the tiniest bit. Nobody at practice had said anything or seemed to know why Momo was out.

Before he had much of a chance to think about this, Karupin jumped up to the bed, sauntered over to Ryoma, looked him straight in the eyes, and meowed once again. Ryoma had grown used to the sound of Karupin's voice, but for some reason he noticed the distinctness of the meow. His cat looked kind of funny and sounded equally funny. Karupin was goofy, but in an adorable way.

After looking at Karupin for a few moments, Ryoma reverted his attention back to the ceiling. He pulled off his cap and reached over to place it on the night table. As he pulled back his arm, he ran a hand through his dark, green-tinted hair. He felt a sudden pressure on his stomach. Apparently Karupin wasn't pleased with Ryoma's interest in the ceiling. Echizen smiled, lifted his hand from his head, and ran it through Karupin's fur. Karupin nestled into Ryoma's body and lowered his head. His master also drifted into sleep.

…

Immersed in murky darkness, Ryoma wandered aimlessly, unable to orient himself. Eventually he noticed a figure off in the distance. He tried to reach it, but couldn't seem to get any closer. He tried to call out, but couldn't form the words. Before he had a chance to panic, another figure became visible. He still couldn't make out any details on them. Slowly, more figures began to appear. Eventually Ryoma found himself completely surrounded by shadowy humanoid creatures.

In his final attempt, Ryoma marched towards some of the closest figures, only this time he found himself actually progressing towards his destination. A few moments later he could identify one of them - it was the captain of Seigaku's tennis club, Tezuka. Next to him was clearly Fuji, another third year student, and a member of the Tennis Club. Quickly some of the other figures came into full view. Ryoma recognized most of the other Seigaku regulars. One figure seemed larger than the others, but for some reason still couldn't be identified. Ryoma strained to get a good look but was unable to. Before he had a chance to walk towards the large outline, an enormous shadow crept over him. He spun around and saw a huge figure gazing down at him. The figure looked like a giant head, but was masked by darkness.

Just as Ryoma's eyes seemed to be adapting to the darkness of his surroundings, a bright light started to shine from behind the big shadowy figure, making it impossible to see clearly. Ryoma threw an arm in front of his face to block the light, and peeked under his elbow in one final attempt to look at the head.

"Ryoma. Ryoma. Hey, Ryoma!" His eyes flew open. Standing in the doorway was his father. "If you want to sleep through dinner then I can eat your share, no problem."

"I'll come down!" Ryoma said in a rather agitated voice. Most of the things he said to his father were complaints, or other expressions of dissatisfaction with his father's provocations and other immature acts.

"Oh, aren't we groggy?" Nanjiroh turned his head over his shoulder and smirked as his son angrily glared at him. The two headed downstairs where Ryoma's mother, cousin, and cat were waiting.

…

End of Chapter 1


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